Day 11 - Gilbert, AZ to Sedona, with a follow-on ride to Flagstaff and back 

314 Miles

Today was a day of southwest versions of Tale of the Dragon.  It also was a day of meeting former military folks and making new friends.

We bade a very reluctant goodbye to Alex, Christy and family and headed for Sedona.  Talk about being hard to leave.  It probably won't be on the bike, but we'll be back!

Edited to add that we stopped by an artist's shop on the way out and saw this cool artist's impressionist piece:

Once on the road I wanted Denise to see the Prescott area, as well as for me to redo the ride up through the Tonto National Forest.  We stopped at the same Salt River access site I had taken shots yesterday; this time for Denise to take several photos of some of the Salt River Wild Horses.  Four were standing in the river and she was able to get the following shots with our little Samsung digital that we carry on the bike:

While at the same spot we had a nice conversation with a former Navy Vietnam Vet.  While finishing up a Med Cruise, David Stallings got orders to report to Vietnam.  When he got there he was assigned to river boats.  Talk about a change of scenery!  Anyway, come to find out David is now a professional photographer and this afternoon he sent me several copies of the photos he took earlier today of these four and other horses he had seen along the way.  For the record, his lens was almost as long as my arm.  LOL!

At this point I'm required by law to say Denise's photos were better; at least if I hope to sleep through the night.  Seriously, several more of David's great work can be seen below.  Fair winds and following seas, Sailor.  Thanks!

When we got to Prescott we rode around Prescott, Prescott Valley and Dewey-Humbolt.  Such a pretty area.  Denise took a whole bunch more photos; some of which may be included below.  She took so many of the ride to Prescott, the ride on to Sedona and up to Flagstaff and back, and that they're all so good, I'm going to have to select about 20 examples pretty much at random.  The exceptions will be a couple photos of a strange plant that just struck my fancy and her shots of part of a herd of Elk we saw north of Sedona.

Backing up, the mountain riding today was terrific.  South of Sedona we went up to and down the mountain to/from Jerome, AZ.  In the old days, Jerome was the 4th largest city in Arizona.  Today it's basically a mountain arts colony.

North of Sedona, we rode up US89A, along the Oak river,  past Slide Rock State Park and on up through a meet-yourself mountain pass that rivaled the ride up to Jerome.  It was above this area almost to Flagstaff where we first saw the elk.  I thought I saw two on the northward ride, but when we turned around at I-17 and came back down, we instead found a herd of ~20 elk.  Here are a few of them:

 Note the antlers on the one in the front.

When we were dropping back down into Sedona, we also saw a deer almost at arm's-reach from the road in a curve.  We were glad he had paused as we came by.

After all this, we had a terrific dinner at the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill; a restaurant Christy recommended - excellent choice!

Here are some photos at random from Denise's ~100 shots, and then there will be five more of David's.  Be sure to click on the images to see them in original form.

And David, thank you very much for your service and for sharing your passion with us.  Semper Fi!

Tomorrow we head out to ride through the Petrified National Forest and on to Gallup.  We are dreading the two days after that -- all I-40 until we get to Forest City, AR.  Sometimes the road is just a road.

Later.